Something to munch on?

This week I thought I’d share one of the recent projects we’ve been involved in here at FlashStreaming.co.uk

We were approached by Frank PR, marketing consultants to Nestle to assist in the production of their newest project, a human powered KitKat vending machine installed at Victoria Station in London.

Japan has already got the world hooked on sushi, tamigotchis and karaoke and now Brits are set to be wowed with this latest craze from the far east for people powered snack machines. The project is part of the latest KitKat promotion and the innovative vending machine is part of the latest Kit Kat ‘Working Like a Machine’ campaign, which plays off the idea that people are overwhelmed with the monotony of everyday life and so need to take a break.

…another happy customer!

So, how do we fit into the picture? Essentially the actor employed to be the ‘man in the box’ had the ability to blog live to the outside world about life as a machine. The box itself also housed a small camera and encoding station installed by FlashStreaming.co.uk that captured a day in the life of a human vending machine. This content is now to be used in the ongoing campaign set to run in the spring.

This is just one of a wide range of jobs that we have undertaken in February, we have just provided the live streaming from the UK National Squash Championships from Manchester and the VMWorld conference from Cannes. With campaigns also in the offing from Utility Warehouse, VInspired and several others, this Friday sees us to the end of another very busy month!

Time for a break anyone?

If you have an idea or an event, get in touch with us at blog@streamingwizard.com  No matter how odd you think your idea is, we won’t laugh – and we may have even seen it before.

Until next time…..

“I’m getting married in the morning…”

Well, not quite – but with spring rapidly (!) approaching, many couples will be in the final stages of their planning for their big day.

Exactly a year ago today I was in New Zealand, going through the last minute preparations and getting ready to marry the love of my life. My good lady is a Kiwi so the decision had to be made as to where to hold the big day. With my family being more able to travel we opted for an NZ wedding but our thoughts were with those in the UK who would not be able to attend.

This is a situation that many modern families face as we have all spread out across the globe. Having close family as a part of the wedding is of paramount importance for most.

For those not able to travel, or with families in different countries, live Flash Streaming offers a fantastic way to ensure everyone can be a part of your wedding.

Flashstreaming.co.uk  were responsible for the first ever live streaming wedding from Ely cathedral in Cambridgeshire and have since provided wedding streaming services for many couples, with the service growing in popularity every year.

A camera, a PC and an internet connection is all that is needed to ensure your family can watch your wedding ceremony as a live flash webcast from anywhere in the world!

We will provide the streaming service and the player needed to display your live wedding webcast on the internet. We can also provide a personalised page for your guests to view the ceremony if required.

If your big day is approaching you’ve probably got a fair bit on your plate anyway, so you’ll be pleased to know that adding a live flash webcast to the ceremony is not a technically difficult or expensive thing to do – and you can relax knowing that family and friends from around the world can join you for your celebrations.

Drop me a line and I am more than happy to offer help and guidance to those about to tie the knot – regarding streaming that is, anything else and I’d probably be a bit out of my depth!

Ah - thinking about it, I’d better go and buy an anniversary present….

Until next time…

Flash Players – from simple, to flashy!

At Flash Streaming we firmly believe the viewing experience for the end user is of paramount importance. As broadband speeds have grown, so has people’s access to better and better quality streaming media.

With the wide scale adoption of flash, your content can be viewed by the majority of internet users with no additional software other than their standard browser.

The delivery mechanism for flash video, i.e. the actual player application, is a key link in the chain.

The JW FLV Player is the Internet’s most popular and flexible media player and is our chosen player here at Flash Streaming and for our main site www.streamingwizard.com

Why? – Quite simply it is the most versatile player we have found so far. It supports playback of FLV for on demand streaming and live streaming over RTMP.  It can also support various playlist formats.

The look of the JW player is fully customisable and we generally recommend a simple skin to start off with. In fact, our content management system actually generates all the player code required. You simply upload your videos to out flash streaming servers, generate the required code from within the CMS with a few mouse clicks and then cut and paste this code into your website.

An example of a simple player, with basic controls:

The player above is generated from within your Flash Streaming account management screen – you simply define the player size and controls and our CMS does the rest.

The ‘skinning’ functionality of the JW player allows technically adept users to completely customize the look and feel of the player.

An example of a re-skinned player:

In addition, for advanced users, a wide range of customisable settings and an extensive JavaScript API is available. Its ‘plugin’ architecture allows you to easily extend the player with features such as sharing, recommendations, searching, analytics and ad serving.

With such a wide range of features, and a fantastic community of users, the JW player really does add to the services we provide for our clients here at www.flashstreaming.co.uk

If you're not yet streaming, or are less than happy with the current service you're getting then get in touch with us. We are ALWAYS happy to offer advice and guidance based on our experience of what works for clients

Drop me a line! - blog@streamingwizard.com

Until next time....